


Dragon and Knight

by vogue91



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Awkward Flirting, F/M, Fairy Tale Elements, Fluff, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 18:05:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13253721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vogue91/pseuds/vogue91
Summary: “What do you do when knight and dragon are one and the same? When you save the princess, but you hurt her as well?”





	Dragon and Knight

_I think the right word is ‘insufferable’._

Rose was writing a letter to her parents. She tried to weigh the words; she didn’t want them to think she had any problems, she knew her father wasn’t famous for being seraphic.

But her anger toward Malfoy had crossed every boundary, and she wouldn’t have known how to contain it otherwise.

She had heard often her parents talking about his father, Draco Malfoy, and Rose had to admit that his son was a lot different. He was more helpful, acted less like a prima donna and didn’t wander Hogwarts’ hallways as if he was the owner of it all.

And he kept quite a distance from Gryffindors, aware of the ancestral hate that divided them, yet he didn’t lash out in any particular vexation.

Except that with her.

At Potions he added random ingredients to her cauldron, at Transfiguration he’d confuse her to make her make a mistake, at Care of Magical Creatures he had fun messing with the animals closer to her... Rose had lost count of all she had to deal with.

During the first five years at Hogwarts the boy had being vicious to her, but now, sixth year, he was definitely crossing the line.

And Rose was convinced to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Initially she had tried not to care about the Slytherin, acting all haughty, which she did quite well. But in the past few weeks, Scorpius was going well over what could be considered as a mere prank, and she had begun retaliating.

She was sure that if her mother were to know about the number of spells she had casted against Scorpius, she would’ve been mad.

Her father, instead, would’ve shaken her hand, she was sure. They were still talking about a Malfoy. 

She finished her letter with a lighter tone, talking about lessons and her friends, then she sealed it and went to the Owlery.

She walked absorbed in her thought, when she bumped into someone.

“Hey! Dammit, be careful where you go!” a voice _all too_ familiar told her. She looked at the boy’s face and gritted her teeth. He, on his part, grinned. “Oh, it’s little Weasley. I don’t know why, but I figure I should’ve imagined it was you.” he mocked her. Surprisingly, he held out a hand to help her get up.

The girl glared at his, dodged the hand and stood up on her own.

“It so happens that you came out of nowhere Malfoy, so don’t even try to blame it on me.” she said, adjusting her uniform and going away.

The boy started following her, amused, until she stopped in the middle of the hallway. He saw her clenching her fists and sighing. When she turned, she was furious.

“Where are you going?” she hissed. Scorpius took a look at the letter she had in her hand, then smiled wider.

“I’m going to the Owlery. You?” he asked, innocent. Rose didn’t dignify him with an answer, she turned around and kept walking, the Slytherin still behind her.

He walked beside her, a sly smile on his face; Rose knew perfectly how much he liked having the power to annoy her without saying a word.

When they reached the Owlery she kept doing what she had to, still ignoring him. The moment she had sent her letter she turned, finding the boy just a few inches far from her. She jumped, swearing.

“Malfoy, bloody hell, would you mind letting me be? I don’t think it’s asking much. It’s Sunday, it’s the day of rest. Can’t you get back to your mission of psychological torture tomorrow?” she said, bitter. The boy, on his part, laughed.

“You really make no sense, do you know that?” he mocked her, with a tone that left Rose confused. She would’ve said it was sweet, hadn’t she known too well the person speaking. She blushed instantly.

“It is not me who makes no sense, Malfoy: it’s you. Can you please tell me what you want from me? Because I think I’ve always been ignoring you, so I really can’t understand what I could’ve possibly done for you to mess so much with me!” she complained. She was overwhelmed by tension, and was about to start crying, but she controlled herself in order to save her pride.

Scorpius sighed, closed his eyes and massaged his temples.

“You really can’t understand, can you? You still live in your beautiful fairy tale, where everything’s consistent, everything’s perfect and everything makes sense.” he scolded her, suddenly sad. “But know this, Rose, things don’t always go like this. And if you really want to convince yourself that this fairy tale may coincide with reality, you could at least try to turn the page.” finished with his outburst, he didn’t even worry to check the girl’s reaction. He left, going quickly down the stairs to the Tower, risking to fall.

Rose stayed still for a long time. She was still trying to focus on what had just happened, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t understand.

Malfoy’s words made _no_ sense.

She sighed. She would’ve needed all the moral support possible, that was for sure.

She went back to Gryffindor’s Tower, and felt relieved when she saw Roxanne in the Common Room. The girl was busy talking about N.E.W.T.s with a few classmates, but as soon as she saw the cousin she excused herself and joined her.

She looked worried, and Rose didn’t even try to imagine the way she must’ve looked right now.

“Hey, Rosie... what’s going on? It looks like you’ve just seen a ghost.” she told her, chuckling and looking at Nearly Headless Nick, not far from them.

“I haven’t got the faintest idea.” the younger answered, whiny, confusing Roxanne even more.

“Scorpius?” she asked, resigned. She had long since learnt that any problem the cousin had, was _always a_ bout the Slytherin. When she nodded, Roxanne shook her head. “Well, surprise surprise.” she commented, then she sat on the couch, signalling Rose to join her. After the girl had explained what had went down in the Owlery, Roxanne rolled her eyes.

“Great, your look is really helping Roxie.” Rose muttered, sarcastic. The other one laughed.

“Look, being a year older doesn’t mean managing to understand guys. On the contrary, most of the times it’s even more confusing.” she explained, making her smile.

“Yes, you’ve got to be right. It’s really a shame that there’s no vocabulary to understand their language.” she ironized, then shook her head, still speaking, though more to herself than to her cousin. “Fairy tales? I live in the fairy tales? But what the heck does it even mean?” she repeated, yet she still couldn’t find the answer.

 

~

 

That night, she had troubles sleeping.

Scorpius’ words had thrown her in a total chaos, and she didn’t even know why.

She felt a sort of shiver, as if in his words there was something essential that she just couldn’t het.

She fell asleep late, and even when she did, she still was incredibly anxious. 

 

~

 

They were at Potions, and none of them was actually listening to the teacher. There had been a clear change from what her parents used to tell her, about the time they had studied the subject with the hated and almost legendary professor Snape.

Rose was looking at Scorpius, who was too busy messing with his classmates to worry about her. The girl was confused. At that point, usually, something weird should’ve already happened to her, some curse or the explosion of the Potion she was brewing, the Polyjuice.

But the Slytherin seemed to have laid down all his weapons against her for that day, which convinced her even more than the day before _something_ must’ve happened.

At the end of the class, she got closer to the Slytherins getting out of the room. She cleared her throat, making them turn around. When Scorpius saw her he grimaced, and made as if to turn his back to her, but with a nod she invited him to follow her.

“I’m sorry. She just can’t live without me.” he said dramatically to his friends, causing general amusement.

As soon as he reached Rose, she took him by the collar of his uniform and pushed him against the wall.

“Hey, that hurts!” he complained.

“I don’t give a damn, Malfoy. We need to talk.” she hissed. She couldn’t say where her rage derived from, she just knew that the boy’s attitude had made her feel frustrated like never before. Scorpius sighed, but he seemed to yield.

“Ok. You just need to ask, little Weasley.” he mocked her. The girl let him go and he adjusted his clothes, annoyed.

“Would you explain to me what’s the meaning of the speech you gave me yesterday?” she asked, her voice low, feeling a little less secure about her intentions. And she didn’t feel better when she saw Scorpius laughing, cocky.

When he calmed down he raised his eyes, fixing them in hers.

“I like how I’m capable of tormenting even when I do nothing.” he commented. Rose blushed, admitting he was perfectly right.

“I don’t care about your self-celebration, Malfoy. I’d like to have an answer.” she said, dry. Scorpius became more serious, he got closer and pinched her cheek.

“Your problem, Rosie, is that you trouble yourself searching logic where there’s not.” the Gryffindor flinched hearing him calling her like that, a thing he had never done; on good days, she could consider herself lucky if he called her by her first name.

“And you say I’m the one living in a fairy tale... you don’t seem much more attached to reality than I am.” Scorpius smiled.

“You know, you’re exactly like your mother, according to what my father says.” he said. “Too complex and little imaginative.” he closed his eyes for a moment, leaning against the wall. “How long has it been since you’ve last read a fairy tale?”

Rose got annoyed at how the boy kept going around the subject without getting anywhere, but nonetheless she answered.

“Since I was a child. Why?” the Slytherin lightened up.

“That’s exactly my point: one shouldn’t forget how it was when he was just a kid. Imagination, fun, simplicity... when you could say anything you wanted, no matter modesty or prejudices.”

“Hence, Malfoy, can you tell me what you’re talking about? I’m begging you!” she almost screamed, setting aside the Gryffindor’s pride which wouldn’t have allowed her to beg a Slytherin.

“In fairy tales everything’s much more simple, Rose. There’s the princess, the knight, the dragon... you save the princess and she’s forever yours.” he said, smoothly. Rose kept looking at him speechless, rapt. “But in real life... well, it’s a bit more complicated.” he smiled. “What do you do when knight and dragon are one and the same? When you save the princess, but you hurt her as well?” he got closer. “Maybe someone should make fairy tales a little more realistic.” Rose didn’t dare to say a thing. She had started feeling antsy since she’d understood what he was trying to say.

She didn’t know what to do, and she made the only choice that seemed possible.

She ran.

And she ran outside, into the yard, before stopping, panting.

Thoughts were wild in her mind.

Scorpius Malfoy. Slytherin. Son of a former Death Eater, who had been an enemy of her parents and uncles. The dragon.

The knight?

Rose couldn’t even imagine it. Nor she could understand. What did it mean? Was he talking about something even remotely related to _love_? It was complicated to think, never mind act upon it.

After all he had done to her, after all the fights and the quarrels, she couldn’t understand the logic behind his words. But perhaps he was right: she worried to much about looking for logic where there really wasn’t any.

She sat on the grass, resting her chin on her knees. It took a few minutes, and Scorpius appeared behind her. He walked slowly, hesitating. When he reached her, he sat next to her, without saying a word; she was the first to speak.

“I’m sorry I ran.” the boy smiled.

“Don’t worry. I was starting to get confused myself about what I was saying, running was legit.” he joked, making her laugh.

“So, regarding what you’ve said earlier...” she tried to say, but Scorpius stopped her.

“If you want, we can pretend I didn’t say anything. I can also claim I was under the Imperius Curse if it pleases you.” she hit him on a shoulder, trying to make him shut up.

“If I’m not wrong, you were talking about a dragon and a knight, weren’t you?” she got closer, smiling. “You know, when I was a kid I used to _adore_ fairy tales.” she added, sly. The smile on Scorpius’ face widened.

“Well, I know lots of them. It’s just that... none of them make much sense.”

“Great. Let’s say that becoming children again doesn’t really hurt, does it?”

Scorpius sighed out of bliss at the girl’s words, then he stood up and held out his hand.

“It all depends on you. Would you like being a child again? I’m up for it. But first you’ve got to tell me: are you willing to play or not?” Rose stared long in those eyes, which looked at her with a sentiment she had never seen before in her life. She smiled, grasping tightly his hand.

“I’m playing.” she declared, standing up.

They went back toward the castle, still hand in hand.

They may have been children or not, it didn’t matter; the important thing, was that for the first time they were playing on the same side.  


End file.
